Fire plan hot on new Cambridge station

CAMBRIDGE — This rapidly-growing city of 132,000 has a burning need for a new fire station.

It should go at the northern edge of Cambridge.

It should go at Maple Grove Road and Boxwood Drive.

"With all the development going on up in that area, we just can't get there in time," said Cambridge fire Chief Bill Chesney after city council approved a 10-year fire department master plan Monday night.

"We're bringing stations all the way across town to get the 14 firefighters we need in a structure fire. We just can't do it in a timely manner."

Life with five fire stations has served Cambridge well over four decades.

And having 112 firefighters to ride the trucks to emergencies has worked since 1975. But Jaws is no longer in theatres. The Jaws-of-Life could use more than 112 attendants.

Cambridge is no longer a city of fewer than 80,000. Traffic can be a toothy beast.

The time for a sixth station to open is 2016, the report says.

Of course, dozens of new firefighters will be needed.

Naturally, there will be hefty costs.

Design and construction will be $3-million. The first 10 firefighters to staff the new division will add $1.1 million to the city's operating budget in 2016. The second 10 will add another $1.1 million in 2017. Twelve more firefighters will be needed to staff a rescue vehicle in 2019 and add $1.32 million in operating costs.

A new pumper truck for Station 6 would cost $750,000 in 2016.

A new rescue vehicle for 2019 would come in at $700,000.

All that is a pretty tall fire order for a city facing a 14th straight year of tax increases. The fire department will have to fight for each item in the master plan each year during budget deliberations.

That's when pieces of the paper Master Plan for Fire could go up in flames.

But, on Monday night, it received a warm, but not inflammatory, welcome.

"The document is very well done," Mayor Doug Craig said. "It really shows how, as the increments take place, the better served the community is."

Hespeler Coun. Rick Cowsill was happy to note that Station No. 2, in the Hespeler core, will remain open in the master plan.

Rumours suggesting it would be closed had circulated.

"It never crossed our mind," Chesney said.

Now, it's time for city councillors to go over the Master Plan and pick it apart.

"I went through this twice," Cowsill said. "It was a good read. It was a long read."